I’m certainly no expert on those who collaborated to enslave their brothers under fascist tyranny six decades ago. Some may have done genuinely awful things; others may have been “mere” profiteers. Some may have acted more voluntarily than others. The passage of six decades certainly complicates such questions. That’s why there are statutes of limitations.
On the other hand, I can’t help but note the absence of any official list with more contemporary application, so here’s my effort at a modest post-DEROS public service to the Republic of Korea:
“Wu,” of the The Pan-Korean Aliance for Reunification, who recently tried to slip a loyalty oath to Kim Jong Il to a visiting North Korean official.
The members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions who shouted, “We will unite with the workers of the North to fight against the U.S.!”
The members of the same union — the largest in Korea, by the way — who violently barred the U.S. Ambassador from attending a media interview shortly after he criticized North Korea for counterfeiting U.S. currency.
Kim Tae-Il, President of the KCTU, who said, “During the May 1 North-South Workers’ Rally in Pyongyang, the workers of North and South agreed to unify to carry out the anti-American struggle”¦. The center of that struggle with the United States is Daechu-ri, Pyeongtaek.
Professor Song Du-Yul, a/k/a Kim Chul Soo.
Pak Se-Gil of the Korean Government Employees’ Union (KGEU), who wrote a pamphlet for the rank-and-file that was cribbed from North Korean Juche ideology. The KGEU is now a part of the KTCU.
The members of the banned, violent, far-left student group Hanchongryon who said this as they left for a solidarity trip to Pyongyang: “Let us eliminate anti-unification pro-war forces which intend to cast fire clouds of a nuclear war on the heads of Koreans.
Whoever was on the “To:” line in 670 secret dispatches suspected (known?) to have arrived in South Korea from the Workers’ Paradise last year (or was the number closer to 80,000?).
Park Seong-Hwan, the folk singer who brought us such catchy numbers as “Fuckin’ USA,” “Go to Pyongyang,” and most recently, “Kick Them Out,” a risible anti-American screed later found to have borrowed spurious accusations about the U.S. Army from a North Korean textbook.
Professor Kang Jeong-Koo, who claimed last year that North Korea’s 1950 invasion of the South was a war of unification (which is technically true) and that General MacArthur was a “war criminal” for getting in the way. Just for extra fun, Professor Kang closed with this: “Let’s achieve unification by succeeding to the spirit of [the great leader’s home town].”
Finally, let’s not forget the Korean Teachers’ Union, which created an obscene “educational” video for Pusan schoolchildren that celebrated 9/11. Not prima facie evidence of North Korean collaboration, but it wins points for style.
Now, I’ve frequently and emphatically expressed my opposition to prosecuting these walking embarrassments for nonviolent expression of their pro-North Korean views (though it’s delectable visualizing them spending the next five or ten years rooting for wild grasses in the hills near Chongjin). The best answer to nonsense is to expose it. And if we can agree on the silliness of prosecuting those who are trying to undermine South Korea’s democracy today, it’s surely silly for the state to sit on available evidence fo six decades before convening a politically motivated “truth commission.”
The DPRK sympathizers should all be repatriated to Pyongyang. Let’s see how much they like living under the conditions of the country they’re so fond of.